One Trust Broken, Another Strenghtened
by Red Witch
Summary: After the events of Tangled Web Zach's trust has been broken, and there's one person that can help him through it.


**The disclaimer saying that I don't own any Galaxy Rangers characters is broken. Just some musing from my mind. Tied into the Tangled Web story.**

**One Trust Broken, Another Strengthened**

Even though both Zachery Foxx and his wife Eliza had been up for nearly two days and were exhausted, neither could sleep. Both were sitting in the waiting room. Eliza had run there immediately after her mission to save New Atlantis after learning their son had been injured.

The boy was fine and resting now. But still both parents were uneasy of what had happened…What nearly happened.

"They say he's going to need a bionic eye," Zach said. "They couldn't save it."

"It could have been worse," Eliza put her hand on his. "Zachery…"

"I just…" Zach sighed. "I never wanted my son to become a freak like me."

"You think of yourself as a freak?" Eliza was stunned.

"Come on Eliza, how many people out there have bionic body parts and are **sane?**" Zach looked at her. "Being part machine is not normal!"

"Well what about me?" Eliza put her hands on her hips.

"What about you? You don't have any bionic parts," Zach was confused.

"I was turned into a Slaver Lord which turned me into a psychic," Eliza said.

"That's different!"

"How?"

"I don't know!" Zach was frustrated. "It just is!"

"Well aren't we a pair?" Eliza sighed. "We both feel like freaks because of something that's not our fault. But that's not the only thing on your mind is it?"

"You don't need to be psychic to see that Commander Walsh is partly responsible for all this!" Zach snapped.

"How do you figure that?" Eliza asked.

"Oh come on Eliza! He was part of that damned Black Rose Society working with Garson!" Zach shouted.

"He turned against Garson," Eliza said.

"That's not all he turned against. Walsh was so willing to betray Shane's trust and turn over Cheyenne supposedly in order to protect him," Zach said bitterly. "Then at the last moment he just abandoned Shane and walked away!"

"He couldn't have…"

"You didn't see the look in his eyes when Walsh walked out that door and we were prisoners," Zach said. "How casually he just shattered his heart…How he willingly abandoned him and us…When I think of what Shane went through all these years…And how much he looks up to Walsh despite all the crap he put him through…And how disposable Walsh viewed him as…It makes me mad! And I don't mean regular mad, I mean Supertrooper Mad!"

"But Walsh didn't abandon Shane," Eliza said. "He sent Wildfire to try and break us out of the brig and then get you and him out. We just happened to get out first. Maybe he was just trying to buy time…"

"No, no that's not a good enough excuse!" Zach snapped as he stood up.

"Well what was Walsh supposed to do?" Eliza said. "Garson wasn't going to listen to him."

"He could have done more. Could have said something…Anything!" Zach was furious. "You just weren't there Eliza! That look in Shane's eyes as he got his heart broken! It was horrible."

Zach threw up his arms. "Even if what you said is true…It still doesn't excuse Walsh for what he did to Shane in the first place! The man used his own son as an experiment! A military experiment to create a perfect soldier! What kind of person does that to his child? To any child? He allowed Goose to be tortured and experimented on, along with all those other children! How can I trust him after realizing that? If he was willing to do that to children…I don't know…"

"You knew this before the other day but…"

"I never said I liked it. When Walsh first took command I knew about the Supertrooper Program but I had no idea exactly what went on at Wolf Den!" Zach paced back and forth. "The more I learned…I tried not to question him. I tried to look past that. To see Walsh for the good man I thought he was. But I was just lying to myself! The signs were all there but I didn't see them. I didn't want to see them."

"Are you seeing a little bit of what Walsh did into what happened with Little Zach?" Eliza asked.

"Maybe, I guess but that's not the issue. It's not just the whole thing with Goose and Little Zach," Zach told his wife. "Because of Walsh the reputation of BETA is tarnished. The Galaxy Rangers' reputation has been tarnished, even though what happened wasn't our fault. It's going to be a long time before Earth is trusted again."

"I agree with you," Eliza nodded. "Of course Nagata, Garson, Wheiner, Domani and everyone else in that circle is equally to blame too."

"Yeah but…Walsh was our leader," Zach said. "He was the head of the Galaxy Rangers…And for him to just run away when the going got tough…I just feel so betrayed. On so many levels."

Eliza got up and held him. "You're not responsible for what happened to Little Zach. Your son chose to risk his life to protect the Kiwi Kids. He learned to protect others from you. That's not a bad thing. That's one of the greatest lessons a father can teach his son. You should be proud of that."

"I am," Zach said.

"And Walsh somehow taught Shane that very same lesson," Eliza said. "So he can't be **all **bad. But you are right, he shouldn't have run away. He should have let us help him."

"Goose doesn't like to admit when he needs help either," Zach muttered. "Maybe that's where he gets it from."

He looked at his wife. "How are you holding up?"

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little spooked by my new abilities," Eliza admitted. "But Niko promised to help me along with Noah. And Cheyenne mentioned she will help out too. So I'm in good hands. I'm **fine** Zachery. It's you and our son I'm worried about."

"Don't worry about me," Zach said. "And our son will be fine. That's a good kid we raised."

"You have to take a lot of the credit," Eliza said. "When I was…away, you really helped mold him into a responsible young man. I've seen how he's grown."

"I can't take all the credit," Zach said. "Goose, Doc and Niko did their fair share as well. With both of us."

The doctor came out. "Your son will be fine. He'll be up in a few minutes. He needs at least a day before we can put in the bionic eye."

"That's a relief," Zach let out a breath. "Thank you doctor."

The doctor left and both parents hugged each other. "We've gotten through worse," Eliza said. "We can get through this. Once the operation is over…"

"I know," Zach sighed. "Everything will be fine as long as we're together. I won't make the same mistakes Walsh made. I'm not going to run out on my family. Not now, not ever."

"And I'm never going to leave my family again," Eliza told him. "I promise."

Both knew at that moment their bond was stronger than ever and that whatever happened, whatever fate threw at them, they would face it together.


End file.
